The present invention relates generally to hosiery displaying devices and, more particularly, to such devices adapted for hanging display of a plurality of hosiery articles, e.g., from a conventional retail display fixture.
One preferred means of displaying hosiery articles, e.g., pairs of socks in retail establishments is to suspend the socks from a display fixture using a hanger device which leaves all or a substantial portion of the hosiery article exposed. This method permits the potential purchaser to touch and examine the hosiery articles as well as offering the potential purchaser an immediate visual basis of comparison between various hosiery articles on display so that the purchaser may readily determine the appropriate color, fabric and construction of the hosiery article desired to be purchased.
A number of hanger devices have been proposed for displaying hosiery articles in this fashion. One conventional hanger device is a single plastic hook having a hole at the lower end of the hook for receiving a plastic fastener inserted through a folded pair of hosiery to be suspended. While this form of hanger device achieves the aforementioned advantage of leaving the hosiery article substantially exposed for customer inspection, the hanger device is capable essentially only of displaying a single pair of hosiery, whereas in contrast retailers prefer to package hosiery in multiple pairs as a means of increasing sales volume and revenues.
Accordingly, another conventional type of hosiery display device in common use in retail establishments comprises a clear plastic bag in which pairs of hosiery articles are contained and suspended by a one-piece plastic display hanger which supports an upper margin of the plastic bag. While this form of display device satisfies the retail objective of packaging multiple hosiery pairs, the use of a plastic bag prevents the customer from being able to touch and feel the hosiery articles prior to purchase.
A popular form of improved hosiery displaying device which overcomes the disadvantages of these earlier devices is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,957. This patent discloses a hanger assembly capable of supporting multiple pairs of hosiery articles in suspended disposition from a conventional sock retailing display fixture. The hanger assembly basically includes an elongate main body portion and a longitudinally centered hook-shaped fixture attachment portion integrally formed from plastic. The main body includes a plurality of sock attachment openings spaced along the longitudinal extent in balanced relation to the hanging axis HA of the main body whereby a corresponding plurality of hosiery pairs may be attached to the main body at the attachment locations via a plurality of plastic fasteners.
While the hanger assembly of this patent has met with significant commercial success, one disadvantage is that care must be taken to align the pre-formed openings in the device with the gun utilized to shoot fasteners through the hosiery and then through the hanger device in order to insure that the fasteners pass through the pre-formed openings. Also, the pre-formed openings may need to be located differently to accommodate different sizes and types of hosiery articles.